Antonios Mikos - Biography#

Mikos received his Dipl.Eng. (1983) from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and his Ph.D. (1988) in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Harvard Medical School before joining the Rice University Faculty in 1992. He holds international acclaim as a global pioneer in the application of fundamentals of engineering and chemical and biological sciences toward the development of biomaterials for a wide variety of biomedical uses. His research has led to the development of novel orthopaedic, dental, cardiovascular, neurologic, and ophthalmologic biomaterials.

Mikos pioneered the synthesis of non-viral gene delivery vectors combining synthetic polymers with naturally-derived moieties, which paved new avenues for increasing transfection efficiency by leveraging cell receptor-mediated pathways. He contributed greatly in the development of chemically functionalized nanoscale materials toward the fabrication of biodegradable nanocomposite scaffolds for load-bearing tissue engineering applications, which forged new paths in overcoming the challenges associated with dispersion and integration of nanomaterials in highly porous nanocomposite structures. Moreover, he developed biodegradable hydrogel systems for the controlled spatiotemporal delivery of multiple growth factors alone or in combination with encapsulated stem cell populations to promote repair of tissue defects, which enabled the mechanistic study of the effects of growth factor and stem cell delivery on inducing directed tissue repair in a variety of tissues including bone, cartilage, muscle, nerve, and myocardium.
Mikos has directed the translation of regenerative solutions for the treatment of battlefield injuries in his role as program leader in the craniofacial reconstruction focus area of the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine since 2008. Significant aspects of his technology have been translated to the clinic to address aesthetically and functionally devastating large craniofacial defects. In parallel, he maintains a steadfast commitment to fostering the commercial development of his inventions, as evidenced by his 32 patents, which have been licensed by leading and emerging biotechnology companies.